View full sizeBenjamin Brink, The OregonianRafael Gaxiola, co-owner with his wife of The Deadliest Catch food cart, hopes to be among the first carts in Portland to get a liquor license.

Rafael Gaxiola, a former commercial fisherman in Alaska, hopes to be one of Portland's first food-cart owners to net a liquor license.

Gaxiola says adding beer and wine to his Mexican-inspired menu at The Deadliest Catch Fisherman's Seafood Gallery would help him make a living in the increasingly crowded Portland food-cart industry while also attracting customers to neighboring mobile restaurants.

"If I get the chance to go somewhere where they'll allow me to have a liquor license, I'll go there in a heartbeat," says Gaxiola, who several months ago made the first application to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission for a permanent license for a Portland food cart. Three months ago, he withdrew his request for now because his landlord balked over alcohol service, but he's looking for another shot at it. "I'm doing whatever is best for my business."

So will Dylan Goldsmith of Captured by Porches Brewing Co., which could be among the first businesses to land an annual liquor license for a Portland cart. Captured by Porches already has served beer from a half-sized bus and a van at the D Street Noshery food pod on Southeast Division Street, under rules that allow limited sales from locations away from its small brewery in St. Helens. This weekend, Captured by Porches plans to open a second temporary beer cart next to a Kruger's farm stand on North Lombard Street.

Additional cart operators and some owners of lots where they gather in pods appear ready to follow their lead, but before mobile restaurateurs obtain licenses that let them serve alcohol daily, they first must convince cautious state and city regulators they can serve alcohol without harming their neighborhoods.

"We're going to be meeting quite a bit over the next few months," says Theresa Marchetti, liquor-licensing specialist for Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement, a city of Portland department that, among other things, partners with Portland Police Bureau to review liquor-license applications. "It really is up in the air at this point."

Marchetti and Farshad Allahdadi, OLCC's director of licensing services, each say the biggest concern is that cart owners might have less authority over patrons who can walk up outdoors, buy alcohol and potentially drink elsewhere. Traditional restaurants with walls and doors have well-defined areas where alcohol service is allowed and where the license holder is responsible.

"Ultimately, a licensee has to exercise control over the sale of liquor on its premises," Marchetti says.

Legal issues

The OLCC is drafting a formal request asking the state's attorney general's office to review potential legal issues, including control of premises, before deciding whether to license food carts. State attorneys are expected to review how current law that prohibits liquor sales on mobile vehicles -- with exceptions for trains, planes and ships -- should be interpreted in the case of food carts, Allahdadi said.

He says the state attorneys' feedback could take two weeks to a couple months but could help clarify whether the OLCC should issue liquor licenses to cart owners.

"This is kind of a new phenomenon for us," he says.

Control measures potentially could increase the cost of operating a food cart, which appeal to owners for their low overhead compared with full-scale restaurants. Improvements aimed at establishing control over liquor sales could come under additional scrutiny from the city. Portland officials already are looking into possible permit violations as some cart owners have added decks, roofs and other structures. Building spaces for the consumption of alcohol also might also be governed by city building codes.

Drawbacks, benefits

Without proper control, alcohol use can increase criminal behavior and nuisance; and increasing access to alcohol can have broad implications for residents' long-term health and quality of life, Marchetti says. But she adds that having a glass of beer, wine or other alcoholic beverage also enhances the dining experience for many patrons when handled responsibly.

"The food-cart industry is taking off in Portland, so this is an intuitive next step," she says.

However, that same boom in the food-cart culture magnifies the concerns. Through November, 609 food carts had obtained food-service licenses with the Multnomah County Health Department, which plays no role in liquor licensing. That's an increase of 240 carts in just two years, with several more pods in development.

OLCC commissioners could accept or reject liquor-license requests based on the legal interpretations of existing rules. Or they could ask legislators to change the law to allow alcohol service from carts that meet certain conditions, but the legislative process could take six months or longer, according to Allahdadi. And any new rules regarding alcohol sales from food carts aren't likely to cover all carts, which take many forms and inhabit varied locations. OLCC evaluates all alcohol-license requests individually, with input from local governments.

View full sizeDarryl JamesBrian White, assistant brewer at Captured by Porches Brewery, fills a growler from the company's new bus on Southeast Division Street in Portland on Saturday night. The bus is serving beer under a festival license for three days a week while they wait for the Attorney General to decide if and how mobile businesses will be officially licensed.

Plans to be first

Goldsmith, owner of St. Helens-based Captured by Porches, plans to be the first true test for permanently licensing alcohol sales from food carts in the state. Captured by Porches has tried the concept using some of its 31 days of limited sales allowed under its brewery license at the Division Street location. They sell most of their bottled beers through New Seasons and specialty shops in the Portland area.

Goldsmith submitted an application for a permanent license about three months ago but withdrew the request a few weeks ago because the OLCC wouldn't let Captured by Porches use its temporary license if an annual license application is pending.

"The OLCC commissioners won't touch our application until the attorney general gets back to them," says Goldsmith, who owns the craft brewery with his wife, Suzanne Moodhe. "Our application is probably taking twice as long as a normal application will take."

If permanent licenses become an option, Goldsmith plans to quickly reapply and eventually could serve beer at as many as three locations in Portland.

Test run

Linda Gramlich, who owns A la Carts Food Pavilion at Southeast 50th and Division, where Deadliest Catch has been a tenant since late summer, says her pod hosted an Oktoberfest that included beer service under a temporary license. But she fears full-time alcohol sales could change the family atmosphere and possibly come at a higher price.

"Our biggest thing is, when it comes to serving alcohol, it steps up the game in terms of responsibilities and liabilities," she says. "It kind of takes us out of any control of what potentially could happen."

Gaxiola, The Deadliest Catch's owner, says he respects Gramlich's decision but believes he can serve alcohol as responsibly as any traditional restaurant, given the chance. If that day comes, he says he'll move to a location where the property owner would embrace alcohol sales. (Gaxiola has a handful of indoor seats at The Deadliest Catch, but it's also inside a working bus -- both factors that might come into play in an OLCC application.)

"If I've got the opportunity to do something, I'll do it," he says, noting that he only has to unhook utility lines, secure a few things and drive off. "I'm outta here in an hour."